Improvement in boat-detaching apparatus



` T. s. SEABURY. `Improvementin Bof-Detaching Apparatus.

F'at'ented July 23,1872.

sii-'921.

:urrEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS S. SEABURY, OF ST. JAMES, NEW YORK.-

IIVIPROVEIVIENT IN BOAT-DETACHING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,755, dated July 23, 1872.

, occupants of the boat.4 The invention consists `in constructing the link which is fast-w ened to the boat for suspending it from the davits of two pivoted claws, locking together, but so that they will uncouple as soon as the weight of the boat is no longer suspended from the -davits, but supported on the water. The invention also consists in combining with said claws a bolt by which they can be so connected as not to become spontaneously disengaged, but which canbe drawn out whenever the detachment is to be effected.

A in the drawing is the link, composed of two claws or levers, a and b, which are pivoted respectively to the upper and lower parts of a plate, d. One such link is to be applied to each end `of the boat by means of bolts passing through their plates d, as indicated in Fig. l. The lower claw .b is L-shaped, and forms a hook, e, at its upper part, on top of a recess, said recess being large enough to admit the end of the claw a, on which a projection, f, shaped `to fit under the hook e, is formed. The connection with the davits is effected by chains or ropes, which embrace the upper claws a, drawing their ends firmly under the hook e, and then holding the links A closed. The moment the boat; touches the water and its weight no longer strains the chain or rope, the claw a drops of its own accord in the recess of b clear of the hook e, and

the claw b, thereby being released, swings inward by its own Weight and opens the link, so

that the claw a will become disconnected from,

the chain or rope. The desired detachment is thus quickly and certainly effected. When, however, the boat lowered to the water is not to be immediately detached, a bolt, g, pivoted to a lever, h, which has its fulcrum at the upper part of the claw b, is inserted through a slot in the claw b under the end of a, as in Fig. 2,

, and thereby locks the parts together, preventing their spontaneous disen gagement. A strin g or rod, c, connected with the lever h, can be drawn when desired to withdraw the bolt from under the claw a. and permit or effect the instant opening of the link. There being two such links, one at each end of the boat, their two levers, h, can be connected by the same string or jointed rod i, to be acted upon when desired. The string or jointed rod e' will be carried out of the way by being conducted along the side of the boat under the gunwale.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The boat-detaching apparatus, composed of the claws a b, which lock together by means of the hook e and projection f, as set forth.

2. The bolt g on the lever h, arranged in combination with the claws a b, which constitute the link A, as specified.

THOS. S. VSEABURY.

Witnesses:

T. B. MosHER, W. A. GRAHAM. 

